Members of West Michigan’s powerful DeVos family have combined to make more than $14 million in political contributions in the last two years alone. As Betsy DeVos prepares to become President-elect Donald Trump’s education secretary, MCFN analyzed the family’s giving in Michigan, in other states and at the federal level.
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A nonprofit organization linked to Gov. Rick Snyder raised $2.24 million from anonymous donors in 2015, its first year of existence, according to a new federal tax filing. That’s more than the NERD Fund, a previous nonprofit organization connected to Snyder’s administration, raised over the three years it was active.
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The candidates with the most money won 91.8 percent of Michigan’s state House races this fall, according to currently available public disclosures and TV ad-tracking data. Out of 110 races for seats in the House next session, the candidates who appear to have attracted the most financial support won 101 of them.
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Democrats and Republicans combined to spend more than $4.4 million on broadcast TV ads aimed at swaying state House races this fall, according to ad-tracking data and disclosures available through Tuesday evening, Nov. 8. After all of that spending, Michigan Republicans held the 63-seat majority they won two years ago.
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As Michigan suddenly became a key battleground, the state saw a spending surge in the last days of the presidential campaign. Republican Donald Trump, Democrat Hillary Clinton and their supporters aired an estimated $2.78 million in broadcast TV ads in Michigan markets over the last week.
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A nonprofit that incorporated in September has spent large sums in the last weeks to tell voters in Detroit that a ballot proposal there is “awful.” But because of the way the group is wording its attacks, it can protect the identities of its donors.
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For every $1 that’s gone to support the two Democratic nominees for the Michigan Supreme Court, the two Republican nominees have had about $34 in support. According to the Michigan Campaign Finance Network’s analysis of fundraising records and broadcast TV data, the GOP nominees for the state’s high court have seen more than $2.9 million in support for their campaigns with just days remaining before Tuesday’s election.
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